HaloWC 2018 Oddball Update

Recruit - Bronze

As promised, we’re following up on last week’s forum post with an update on the status of Oddball after this past weekend’s GameBattles qualifying play. This week, we conducted an official survey of pro players to gather final feedback on the latest Oddball settings to help drive a final decision for HaloWC 2018. As we discussed last week, there’s been plenty of vocal opponents (as well as some proponents) of Oddball, but given all of the changes that have been made, we opted to keep it in play while closely monitoring how it performed during week two of GameBattles online qualifiers.

While our goal has always been to try and freshen up the offerings for players and viewers alike, and we’d really hoped Oddball would be one way to achieve that, at the end of the day the most important consideration for our team is putting together a high quality HaloWC program that’s fair and competitive for all participants. Based on concerns around spawns and overall gameplay flow, which were corroborated by pro survey results, we have decided to remove Oddball from the Halo World Championship 2018 lineup. This change is effective immediately and Oddball will not return in HaloWC online qualifiers or upcoming events. For those interested in the numbers, amongst top pro players from around the world, the results for the survey question “How do you feel about adding Oddball to the game type rotation for HaloWC 2018?” came back approximately 76% against and 22% in favor (2% of players stated they neither liked or disliked the mode), with nearly all players listing spawning as the top issue with the current version.

This isn’t a decision the team has taken lightly, and it’s important to us that we did the due diligence to drive this outcome. While it’s possible that Oddball may return down the road for future Halo competitive play, we’re all in agreement that this current iteration today doesn’t quite meet the bar for HaloWC 2018.

Lastly, we also touched on the open item of Xbox One X in last week’s forum post and as of today that decision is still pending final testing, with help from our partners at MLG. As soon as we have a final call, we’ll be sure to let you know which console will be used for play.

Thanks to everyone who helped drive all of the various Oddball iterations along the way and to those who participated in the official surveys. We look forward to seeing everyone at HaloWC 2018 Orlando!

Recruit - Gold

As promised, we’re following up on last week’s forum post with an update on the status of Oddball after this past weekend’s GameBattles qualifying play. This week, we conducted an official survey of pro players to gather final feedback on the latest Oddball settings to help drive a final decision for HaloWC 2018. As we discussed last week, there’s been plenty of vocal opponents (as well as some proponents) of Oddball, but given all of the changes that have been made, we opted to keep it in play while closely monitoring how it performed during week two of GameBattles online qualifiers.While our goal has always been to try and freshen up the offerings for players and viewers alike, and we’d really hoped Oddball would be one way to achieve that, at the end of the day the most important consideration for our team is putting together a high quality HaloWC program that’s fair and competitive for all participants. Based on concerns around spawns and overall gameplay flow, which were corroborated by pro survey results, we have decided to remove Oddball from the Halo World Championship 2018 lineup. This change is effective immediately and Oddball will not return in HaloWC online qualifiers or upcoming events. For those interested in the numbers, amongst top pro players from around the world, the results for the survey question “How do you feel about adding Oddball to the game type rotation for HaloWC 2018?” came back approximately 76% against and 22% in favor (2% of players stated they neither liked or disliked the mode), with nearly all players listing spawning as the top issue with the current version.This isn’t a decision the team has taken lightly, and it’s important to us that we did the due diligence to drive this outcome. While it’s possible that Oddball may return down the road for future Halo competitive play, we’re all in agreement that this current iteration today doesn’t quite meet the bar for HaloWC 2018.Lastly, we also touched on the open item of Xbox One X in last week’s forum post and as of today that decision is still pending final testing, with help from our partners at MLG. As soon as we have a final call, we’ll be sure to let you know which console will be used for play.Thanks to everyone who helped drive all of the various Oddball iterations along the way and to those who participated in the official surveys. We look forward to seeing everyone at HaloWC 2018 Orlando!

This is literally the best news since it was confirmed that automatics would be removed from HCS.I'm glad feedback is paying off.

Recruit - Onyx

While I wish oddball had worked out, I concede that I did not find a lot of joy in it. Additionally, I’m glad the pros were taken into consideration and a conversation was had about what would best serve the HWC.

ODST - Silver

The fourth gametype for a competitive eSports Shooter should either be:

A) Search and Destroy - a round-based attack versus defense elimination game mode. Essentially Breakout meets Assault. The game mode would feature an offensive team and defensive team where each new round alternates the roles of each team; a bomb and two arming sites, which are orientated more toward defensive initial spawns, various weapons and power ups to support role-based gameplay, game mode can be won via player elimination or arming a bomb. And possibly an economic system where teams have an limited amount of lives across the team which once diminished that player is eliminated until the next round (for example 8 respawns, giving chances for 2 additional pushes post-initial).

OR

B) Extraction - a randomized site game mode where players are constantly fighting for control of points across various locations within the map. Could use Assault for this game mode and have random arming sites around the map.

Both of which should use the ball, to allow the unique melee-movement only gameplay to still be viable, as well as simplifies the need to create a new game type and instead just moderate the scripting behind the exisiting gametype.

Recruit - Bronze

As promised, we’re following up on last week’s forum post with an update on the status of Oddball after this past weekend’s GameBattles qualifying play. This week, we conducted an official survey of pro players to gather final feedback on the latest Oddball settings to help drive a final decision for HaloWC 2018. As we discussed last week, there’s been plenty of vocal opponents (as well as some proponents) of Oddball, but given all of the changes that have been made, we opted to keep it in play while closely monitoring how it performed during week two of GameBattles online qualifiers.While our goal has always been to try and freshen up the offerings for players and viewers alike, and we’d really hoped Oddball would be one way to achieve that, at the end of the day the most important consideration for our team is putting together a high quality HaloWC program that’s fair and competitive for all participants. Based on concerns around spawns and overall gameplay flow, which were corroborated by pro survey results, we have decided to remove Oddball from the Halo World Championship 2018 lineup. This change is effective immediately and Oddball will not return in HaloWC online qualifiers or upcoming events. For those interested in the numbers, amongst top pro players from around the world, the results for the survey question “How do you feel about adding Oddball to the game type rotation for HaloWC 2018?” came back approximately 76% against and 22% in favor (2% of players stated they neither liked or disliked the mode), with nearly all players listing spawning as the top issue with the current version.This isn’t a decision the team has taken lightly, and it’s important to us that we did the due diligence to drive this outcome. While it’s possible that Oddball may return down the road for future Halo competitive play, we’re all in agreement that this current iteration today doesn’t quite meet the bar for HaloWC 2018.Lastly, we also touched on the open item of Xbox One X in last week’s forum post and as of today that decision is still pending final testing, with help from our partners at MLG. As soon as we have a final call, we’ll be sure to let you know which console will be used for play.Thanks to everyone who helped drive all of the various Oddball iterations along the way and to those who participated in the official surveys. We look forward to seeing everyone at HaloWC 2018 Orlando!

Recruit - Bronze

Marine - Iron

Well this is very good news to hear that the unpolished gametype of oddball will not be used in HCS at this time. It is also very relieving to hear the the HCS team listened to pro player feedback and took it into heavy consideration. Good job to the HCS team over at 343i and goodluck with this upcoming Orlando event! I will not be there in person but I will be watching the stream all weekend!

Recruit - Onyx

I was excited to see oddball in tournaments again. Oddball on H2 Lockout and H3 Guardian produced some of the most epic matches at past MLG tournaments. What complaints did the pro players have? I played it a couple time in HCS on rig and it felt a little off, which I figured was because I wasnt used to it. It would have been better if the holder could sprint so he had same speed as other players like in past games.

Marine - Iron

I was excited to see oddball in tournaments again. Oddball on H2 Lockout and H3 Guardian produced some of the most epic matches at past MLG tournaments. What complaints did the pro players have? I played it a couple time in HCS on rig and it felt a little off, which I figured was because I wasnt used to it. It would have been better if the holder could sprint so he had same speed as other players like in past games.

The spawns were very bad. There would be times were the enemy team would spawn right next to the ball carrier and it happened all the time.